Immunity improved

The core criterion for improving immunity is not how many bottles of supplements you drink, how many kilometers you run, or the "no colds all year round" posted on the Internet, but when you are faced with the stimulation of foreign pathogens, the intensity of your body's stress response is reduced and your recovery speed is faster - this is the most practical conclusion I have come to after being exposed to more than 300 cases of immune adjustment as a registered dietitian.

Speaking of which, I just received a girl who works in Internet operations last month. She had to catch the flu twice in the winter. Each time the fever started to reach 39 degrees, and she had to lie down for at least 5 days before she could get up to go to work. Even tonsil suppuration was a common occurrence. She began to adjust at the end of last year. Last month, half of the people in the office returned to positive. She only had a fever of 37.8 degrees for one day. Apart from being a little tired and not even having a sore throat, she went back to work normally the next day. It's not that she hasn't been infected with the virus at all. It's that the immune army in her body is winning the battle much faster than before. This is a real improvement in immunity.

In fact, most people don’t need to go to the hospital to draw blood to check immune indicators. The body’s small signals have already given you the news. For example, I used to have diarrhea for two days after eating half a popsicle, but now I show off a whole box of ice cream in summer and there is no reaction. ； In the past, it would take three or four days to recover after a long night. Now I occasionally stay up until two o'clock to catch up on projects, and I can recover after half an hour's sleep at noon the next day. ； Even allergic rhinitis, which was a common problem during the change of seasons, was over this year after just two sneezes. These small feelings are more accurate than any test report. If we really want to talk about medical indicators, blood tests to check the CD4/CD8 ratio, immunoglobulin IgG, and IgA are indeed the gold standard. But for ordinary people, there is really no need to spend such unnecessary money. You know best whether you are comfortable or not, and whether you can handle things.

When it comes to how to improve immunity, various schools have been quarreling over the past few years. In fact, no one is wrong, it's just that everyone's shortcomings are different. The nutritional school focuses on "whether there are enough immune raw materials." You can't even eat one egg and one cup of milk every day, and your high-quality protein intake can't even reach half of the recommended amount. There is a lack of raw materials for the synthesis of immune cells, and no matter how hard you try, it will be in vain. ； The school of exercise emphasizes "impeded metabolic circulation". If you sit for more than ten hours every day and are too lazy to stand up to get water, no matter how much nutrients you eat, they will not be delivered to each cell. Of course, the defense line will be easily broken. ； The traditional health-preserving school talks about whether the rhythm of work and rest is smooth. You don't go to bed until two or three o'clock every day. Your liver and kidneys are working continuously and overloaded. The immune defense line is full of holes, and viruses can find them all.

Oh, by the way, there is also a field of psychoneuroimmunology that has become popular in recent years. It is said that people with long-term anxiety and high stress have long-term high cortisol levels, which will directly suppress immune function. I met a middle school teacher before who ate very healthily every day and insisted on running in the morning. 5 kilometers, but she would catch a cold when school started. Later, she discovered that she had to take care of dozens of naughty children when school started, and she was anxious until the early morning every day before she could fall asleep. Later, she spent 10 minutes every day after get off work to sit there and meditate, without taking any supplements, and she had hardly been sick in more than a year.

I have been through a lot of traps before. When I first entered the industry, I heard others say that vitamin C can enhance immunity. I spent a lot of money to buy imported effervescent tablets and drank them every day. After drinking for two months, I still developed rhinitis and my head hurt when I sneezed. It was only later that I realized that I was sitting in the office writing plans every day, for 12 hours at a time, and slumped on the sofa after get off work. My metabolism was extremely slow. Later, I walked briskly around the community for 40 minutes three nights a week. When I felt slightly hot from walking, I went home. I didn’t take any supplements. I didn’t suffer from rhinitis very much that year.

To be honest, the most outrageous thing I have ever seen is when someone spends tens of thousands of yuan to get the so-called "immune enhancement shot". In fact, the ingredients are multivitamins plus a little amino acid, and they pay purely IQ tax. There are also people who heard others say that exercise can improve immunity, so they hit the iron for two hours every day. As a result, they are more likely to catch a cold after the exercise. This is also true. Immunity will temporarily decline within 72 hours after high-intensity exercise. Ordinary people really don’t need to pursue training to achieve a vest line or run a half marathon. It’s enough to sweat a little, which is much more effective than sudden exercise.

In fact, there is no need to pursue "never getting sick". Too strong immunity is not a good thing and can easily induce autoimmune diseases. Just enough is enough. Don’t believe the nonsense on the Internet about “boosting your immunity in 7 days”. It’s like depositing money in a bank. You eat an extra bite of vegetables every day, walk 10 minutes more, and go to bed 10 minutes earlier. You are all depositing money into your account. When you deposit a certain amount, you will naturally feel, oh, my immunity has really improved.